Now Scott Larsen proudly estimates his hotel recycles 80 tons of waste a year instead of sending it to vast area landfills.

His initiative — to help the environment while saving on waste disposal costs — is unique among Holiday Inns, Larsen said, but he's working with the international hotel chain to make it a global effort. It will be among the success stories discussed today at a conference in Leon Valley that is expected to draw regional experts in the recycling field.

“In the unincorporated areas, it's like the Wild West,” Adkisson said Thursday. “They're not mandated to even have trash pickup, much less recycling, so we're hoping to address that in the Legislature,” which convenes in January.

“Our 25-30 percent recycling rate has a long way to go to the 81 percent of the waste stream that is 100 percent recyclable,” Adkisson added.

AACOG resource recovery manager Georgia Zannaras said today's conference will explore efforts locally and elsewhere to increase recycling. San Antonio now has a 10-year plan to enhance its efforts. Plano collects lawn and food waste from businesses and homes. In San Marcos, recycling is offered in large apartment complexes.

In San Francisco, Zannaras said, “every restaurant has a bin for collecting food waste. We want to do that here ... organics can go into the landfill, but it would be much better for the organics to go back into the soils — both for our carbon imprint and for the quality of soils that produce the foods we eat.”

Although the county doesn't have curbside recycling like San Antonio and other large cities, it does have two related programs. One offers curbside pickup of household hazardous wastes for residents of unincorporated areas and small incorporated cities. The other program, about to launch in unincorporated areas, will provide bulky waste residential pickup.